The Lost Colony
by archangel 52
Summary: Chief and Cortana crash land on a world in the middle of galactic no-where. There they find they are not alone. Takes place after Halo 3. P.S. This is my first Halo fanfic, so please be gentle.
1. Hard Landing

**Hello, my fellow authors! This is my first attempt at a Halo fanfic, so sorry for any inconsistencies with the Halo storyline. Anyway, this story takes place after Halo 3. As we all know, the legendary ending shows the Chief and Cortana seemed to be headed for what looks like a planet in what was left of their frigate. This story is about what they find there. I hope you enjoy it! **

_**1100 hours, October10th 2552 (Military Calendar)/**_

_**Unknown System-2.1 Light Years from Installation 00/**_

_**Aboard UNSC frigate **__Forward Unto Dawn_

Fire engulfed the hull of the _Forward Unto Dawn_. Pieces of molten battle plate flew off as what was left of the UNSC warship hit the upper atmosphere of the unidentified planet. Cortana could do nothing but watch as they began their firey descent to the planet's surface. She glanced over from her holopad to the occupied cryo tube to her right, looking in on its occupant. Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117-John, Encased his Mark VI MJOLNIR armor.

As they finally fell out of the upper atmosphere, and entered freefall, Cortana whispered, "See you on the ground, John." Seconds later, the once mighty ship, now in ruins, slid across the planet's surface, crushing acres and acres of evergreen forest.

_**6 hours later**_

Drifting back into consciousness, Spartan 117-John began to dream. He was back on High Charity, the massive Covenant city ship, searching for his artificial intelligence partner, Cortana. Nearing an enormous room, most likely filled to the roof with Flood, a long, slender tentacle shot from the wall and wrapped around his body. When he tried to break free, another of the tentacles wrapped itself around him. He fought and fought, but it did no good. Then another and another and yet another one came over his body. There was nothing he could do. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get away. Suddenly, he is dragged back up against the wall where the tentacles first appeared. A Flood Infection form then came out of no-where and began to crawl towards him. He knew what was coming. He tried harder and harder to break free, but to no avail. His helmet is viciously ripped from his head. The Infection form jumped onto his neck and violently jabbed its penetrator into the base of his neck. John screamed in agony and fear, "NOOOO!"

John woke with a start. Looking through his helmet's visor, he saw nothing. _Am I dead_? He thought. No, that's not right. If he were dead, he wouldn't be thinking at all. A spark of light fell from what he guessed was the ceiling. He attempted to sit up straight, but his head bumped against something. It all came back to him. The attack on Earth, the fighting on the Ark, the death of Truth and Johnson, the Flood, and the destruction of the newly constructed Halo ring all came rushing back into his mind. He then remembered going into cryo sleep to pass the time until they were rescued. Correction, _if_ they were rescued. He placed his hand on the invisible barrier blocking his way. He gave it one good punch and it shattered. Glass fell onto his entire body. He sat up in his pod and tried to get his bearings. His eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness of the vessel. He saw bent and melted pieces of the walls littered the floor, along with busted glass, broken electronics, and harden globs of once molten metal. He lifted himself out of the pod and felt gravity. He thought it strange since last time he checked, the ship was still in space. He flicked on his flashlight. He saw the holopad where he'd last spoken to Cortana. As if awakened by his presence, the pad flashed to life and the four-foot figure of pre-mentioned AI.

"You finally decided to wake up, I see." She said.

"Where are we?" he replied, ignoring her comment.

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly," I can't seem to pinpoint our stellar location." She signed and added, "But I know one thing, we are definitely no-where near the Ark."

"Then where are we?" he said.

"It's a planet with an Earth-like atmosphere. We seemed to have crash in a forest expanding over much of the planet's surface."

John removed his helmet after hearing this. He ran his hand through his short brown hair. He noticed it was about 2 inches over UNSC regulation. He had always had an eye for detail.

He signed. "What's our status?"

"The ship hit the surface over six hours ago. We have no power to speak of, except in this holopad and the cryo pod, both of which are failing quickly."

John grabbed his MA5C Assault Rifle and placed it on the magnetized plates on his back and added, "We need to move."

Cortana nodded. John removed the AI housing chip from the back of his helmet and placed closed to Cortana'a avatar. She flickered and disappeared into the chip. He shoved it back into the port on the back of his helmet.

He looked for the closest door. Finding it, he headed down the debris ridden corridor. After passing through several halls, one of which was blocked by a somehow still standing bulkhead door, he reached the mess hall. Well, _half _of the mess hall. The other half managed to get through the portal. He slowly made his way to the edge of the mess. He squatted and looked down. He was about two kilometers off the ground. Below, he saw a kilometer and a half deep and wide trench dug by the crash and a tidal wave of evergreen trees on either side.

"I know what you're going to ask," Cortana said, "and no, there is no other way down."

He shakes his head. "I guess it's down the hard way."

"Just try not to land on your head."

John chuckled at this. He then preceded to stand, stepped back a few feet to get a running start, bolted to the edge, and jumped. He fell, fell ever so quickly. Half a ton of armor can fall faster than you would expect. After a full minute of free fall, he finally neared the ground. Just before impact, he increased his armor's shield strength to maximum. Wham! Dirt, dust, and rocks flew through the air. Once it all cleared out, a lone figure stood in a half crouch. His legs ached and his teeth were jarred, but he would live. He stood straight up and began moving up the side of the trench. After much slipping and sliding, the Spartan reached the top. Looking into the dark forest ahead, he asked Cortana, "Are you picking up anything alive in there?"

"There's a lot of interference in and around there," she answered, "my sensors can only pick up life signs from about twenty feet. Other than that short distance, we'll be totally blind in there."

John shook his head. He didn't like the thought of going in there blind, but what choice did he have. It is either stay in the decayed ship, hoping for a pickup that probably wouldn't be coming anytime soon, or go into this dark forest and try to survive. He contemplated his choices, their benefits, and their consequences. Finally, he decided to press on into the dark, uninviting forest.

Not too far away from our lone Spartan, a figure lay hidden in the trees, out of the new arrival's line of sight. This figure's name was Suma 'Dusamee, one of the Wild Elites that have taken up residence in this region. He had watched the Metal Bird and its Sky Fire that came with it. The Metal Bird created a deep trench as it fan across the ground. Giant rocks flew in every direction. He was almost knocked out of his tree. 'Dusamee watched the bird for some time after it came falling from the heavens. After watching it for some time, 'Dusamee saw a metal man come from within the bird and fell to the ground. He wondered who and what this new visitor is and where it had come from. 'Dusamee quickly moved through the trees back to his packs' den at the base of Tall Mountain. He would report to the Alpha about this visitor and he would decide what should be done about it.

On the other side of the trench sat a young woman with long, blonde hair, and hazel green eyes that could pierce through battle plate. Beside her, sat a young man, with short, reddish brown hair, and the same hazel green eyes, but not as intense. Through her thermal binoculars, she watched the figure of a man in some kind of armor moved into the trees. She looked in the trees above this "metal man" and saw that they were not the only one's watching this thing. She saw their enemy, one of the Wild Elites of the Tall Mountain Valley. It moved off once the new creature began moving into the forest.

"Well," the young man said, "is it more Elites?"

"No," she answered, removing the binoculars from her eyes, "I don't think so. It almost looked human."

"How can that be?" the young man said, wide-eyed. "Did they finally send someone for us?"

"If they did, they didn't send a very sturdy ship."

The man's expression changed from hope to sadness. She hated to see her brother sad, but there was no time for comfort him now.

The woman stood up. "Come on, if it is a human, he's about to get himself killed." The man nodded. Then the pair set out to go meet this new arrival.

**Okay, how was that? I'm going to try to update every 1 or 2 weeks. I'll also be taking suggestions from any of you guys. Please R & R!**


	2. Day in the Darklands

**Hello again, people of Fanfiction. Here's the second chapter of The Lost Colony. **

_**1700 hours, October10th 2552(Military Calendar)/**_

_**Unknown System-2.1 Light Years from Installation 00/**_

_**Inside Tall Mountain Forest **_

The forest was darker than John had expected. The tree tops seemed to thicken as it went up. John flicked on his helmet and rifle light and moved further into the unwelcoming darkness. His lights, however, was swallowed by shadow. His eyes quickly adjusted to the sudden dark, but he still couldn't see more than a few feet. He still made his way through the dark forest. He kept moving and moving, but no light came. In the back of his mind, he felt something. He felt as if eyes were following him as he moved. He checked his motion tracker, but nothing was moving. Then again, Cortana did say they would have a limited sensor range. Something was watching, he felt it. He stopped and looked in every direction he could think of. He saw nothing.

"Something wrong?" Cortana asked him through his helmet speakers.

"No," John replied looking behind him, "just a feeling."

"Sensors aren't picking up anything."

"I know." He continued on through the never ending darkness, but he still couldn't shake the feel of eyes on him. Still, he moved that feeling to the back of his mind. He had to focus on the task at hand. He had to find some kind of shelter and a means of sustaining himself. He kept his heading, but he kept an eye on his flanks at all times.

Dark. That's all there seemed to be in this place. It never got any lighter in this forest it seemed. John walked and walked, rested on the ground, and then walked some more. He had come across a small stream, but when he drank from it, it tasted like a Grunt had took a dump in it. After what seemed like hours, he still was not out of the dark. He finally came to a large rock formation and leaned up against its side. He let out a sigh. _Is there any light in this place_? He thought. Suddenly, he hears something off to the side. Like cracking twigs. He turned, but he can't see anything.

"Cortana," he says lowly, "are you picking up anything?"

"Nothing." She responded. "Wait. There's something-"

She never got to finish her sentence as she and John were tackled by, basically a shadow. Whatever it was, it was strong enough and fast enough to knock John off his feet. The thing was sitting on top of him, holding him down. John stared straight at the thing. It looked like an Elite, but it was like no Elite he'd ever seen. It wore no armor except the chest plate and leg covers. It looked like it was every some kind of cloak. It snarled at him, mandibles flaring. John tried to push it of him, but it was stronger than a normal Elite. Still, he managed to throw it off him. Quickly, he got up and fired a burst of automatic fire into the creature. Several rounds bounced off the armor, but others connected with flesh. The Elite growled in pain, but just rushed him again. Before John could let off another burst, it knocked away his weapon and began strangling him. Its grip tightened around his throat. John wrapped his hands around the Elite's and tried to remove them. He could barely keep it from tightening even more and already his vision was blurring.

Suddenly, a loud bang rang in his ears and a thick splash of purple blood hit his visor. The Elite released its hold on him and fell to the dirt, now headless. Once his vision cleared, he searched for where the apparent gunshot had come from. He saw nothing but dark. Then, out of no-where, a red light appeared and came towards him. He brought his rifle to bear, taking no chances. Then another appeared and they moved together him.

Once they were within his light's range, he saw that the lights were thermal scopes, attached to a pair of SRS99C- S2 AM sniper rifles, and were being held by two human beings._What are humans doing all the way out here_? He thought.

"Identify yourselves," John barked as he cleaned his visor.

"We're the ones who just saved your ass." A male voice said from behind one of the scopes.

"Come on," another voice said, this one female, "we gotta move."

"Wait a second," John stated firmly, "who are you?"

"There's no time!" the woman said loudly. "This was just a scout. The rest of them will be here shortly."

John followed. He didn't feel like going toe-to-toe with another one of those Elites again, let alone more of them. He followed the pair, while his swam with confusion. Who are these people? They certainly aren't civilians and this sure isn't a colony, at least not a colony he'd ever heard of. And what about that Elite? Why did it act the way it did? It didn't try to kill him with any kind of weapon, only it bare hands. Plus, the Elites were supposed to be allies with the human race. It had this wild, animal-like look in its eyes. It wanted to kill him and, most likely, eat him if it could.

John followed the pair for some time, all-the-while he consulted with Cortana silently.

"Any idea where they came from?" John inquired.

"Nothing definitive," she answered, "but I have my ideas."

"Explain." He said, curious about her thoughts.

"Well, the most logical assumption is that they are survivors from a battle with the Covenant and somehow found their way here."

It made sense that they would be UNSC personnel. Most civilians wouldn't be that accurate with a rifle. But that wouldn't explain the apparent threat of Elites on this world.

"What about the Elites?" John asked her.

"They might have followed the survivors here, trying to finish what they started, so to speak."

That made sense as well. Elites live for their honor, and letting their enemies live would decimate that honor.

Suddenly, a screech unlike anything John had ever heard filled the shadows. The group stopped. They listened for a second, until another screech came.

"Move it!" the woman yelled.

Then they took off in a sprint. Of course, John could move faster than the other two, but he kept having to slow down because of thick low hanging branches. Soon, he saw sunlight at the end of this seemingly endless forest of dark. He increased his speed. His calves pumped, his muscles burned, but he did not slow. Finally, he flew across the shadow's border and entered the world of light. In the light, he saw flowers, large and small, of many colors. Vines enveloped the tree branches. A small brook flowed nearby. It was a beautiful place, but had no time to admire it for his companions through the dark soon arrived. Their breath was heavy and their faces dripped with sweat.

For the first time, John saw their faces since he met them. The woman had long, blonde hair and hazel green eyes that looked like they could pierce through the hull of a warship. The man had short hair, much like his own, but his was much redder. His eyes were like the woman's, but his were no-where as powerful has hers, but they were still strong. Both of them wore standard UNSC combat fatigues, but no helmets.

"We gotta keep moving." The man said once he got his breath.

John nodded. Then, the same screech from just a few minutes ago leaped from the shadows. Then came another. Then three more. John looked at the pair. They looked back at him and knew what was coming. They took up positions behind a fallen tree trunk, sniper rifles leveled. John did the same. Once in place, the trio watched and waited for the attack to come. They didn't have to wait long. Soon after they got into their firing stances, five of the same Elites as before bolted from the dark and rushed towards them, roaring for blood. The two strangers fired their rifles first. One of the charging Elites hit the ground, headless. Another took a round in the chest, but kept charging towards them. John put it down with several three-round bursts from his MA5C. The rest of them managed to break their lines by jumping over the trunk. One of them drew a make shirt knife and lunged at John. He dodged the blow, grabbed the knife, shattered the beast's arm with a hammer blow, and slammed the knife into its skull before it could even scream in pain.

The other two Elites were busy trying to kill the human pair that had helped John. The man managed to fire off another round into one of the Elites abdomen. It shot back stunned but rushed him again. Knowing he wouldn't get another shot off, he pulled his prized possession, besides his rifle, an 8-inch, steel and iron, battle knife. He had won it in a poker game back before he wound up on this rock. It had saved him many times in the past. He hoped it would do so once again. When the Elite got close enough, he shoved the blade right into the creatures neck. He released his grip and the Elite slowly stepped back from him, groping at the knife it its throat. The man pulled out his sidearm, a standard UNSC M6D handgun, and fired four rounds into the Elites head. With all hitting their mark, the beast fell to the dirt, thick purple blood oozing from its body.

The final Elite, once it saw its fellow pack members fall dead, it stopped attacking the woman and ran back into the forest. John walked over to her position and helped her to her feet.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

John nodded. He noticed a trickle of blood coming from the corner of her mouth. The Elite must have knocked her in the mouth. She was lucky not to have a broken jaw. The man came over to them.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

"I'm fine." She answered him. It was clear to John that they were either in a relationship or they were related.

The both of them then turned to John.

"You fight good." The woman said, staring into his faceplate.

"What were they?" John said, ignoring her praise. He had heard other like it, but he had to admit, it wasn't like the normal one the marines would give him. Hers sounded like she wasn't all that impressed.

"_They _were members of the Darklands Pack. They moved into the valley about a month ago. They usually stay near the Southern end of the Darklands, near the valley edge. But lately they've been sending out small hunting parties far from their territory. Their prey supply must be running low around those parts."

"And you are?" the man asked folding his arms.

"Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117-John." John stated not moving.

The pair looked a little stunned. "That's quite the name." said the man.

"I'm Corporal Alice Carson. This is my brother, Adam." She said and stretched out her hand. John took it and they shook. Alice was surprised at his strong grip. They released the shake as Adam said with unfolded arms," Hold on, did you say Spartan. As in _a Spartan."_

John nodded. Adam's eyes lit up at this news. He'd always wanted to meet a Spartan. He had heard rumors about them back in the Corps and had seen holo videos of them fighting off hundreds of Covenant, but he'd never seen one up close. They are far more intimidating in person than on the holos'. He stood seven feet tall, encased in a suit of the infamous MJOLINIR. He resembled the ancient Greek warriors of Earth, with their bronze armor and helmets, but could crush you like a tin can if he wanted too.

"We had better get back to the village." Alice said, wiping her mouth clean of her blood.

Adam removed his knife from the dead Elite and picked up his rifle.

"You ought to come with us." He said resheathing his most prized knife. Alice glared at him.

"Unless you'd rather stay in your ship back there."

John considered this. His best chance of pick-up was at the crash site. But he had no provisions back there. No supplies, and no extra ammo for when those Elites come back. He saw Alice's rifle on the ground. He picked it up and handed it to her.

He turned to Adam and said, "Which way?"

Adam smiled and pointed north-west. "That way. About a mile."

They exchanged final glances and set off on their way.

**Okay, that was chapter 2. Sorry it took so long. I haven't had time to work on it much. Now I would like some of you guy's ideas for upcoming chapters. ** **Also, I have a little challenge for you guys. I thought of bringing a familiar face back from the past. I want to see if you guys can guess who it is. I'll give you a hint: he is someone from one of the Halo novels and is mentioned in throughout the series. Good luck and please review!**


	3. New Surroundings

**HELLO! THE AWESOME PEOPLE OF THE FANFICTION UNIVERSE! DID YOU MISS ME? Ok, lets tone things down a bit. It has been a while since my last update, I know, but I've been busy with other stuff and haven't really felt like working on anything. Anyway, do you guys remember that challenge I issued you guys in the last chapter? Well, I gave you a clue to the answer and now I'm gonna give you another one and it's a big one. This certain character was very close the Chief and he, yes it's a he, died very early in the war. All right, there's the next clue and leave your guesses in your reviews. Enjoy chapter 3!**

_**1900 hours, October 10**__**th**__** 2552 (Military Calendar)**_

_**Unknown system- 2.1 Light Years from Installation 00/**_

_**Inside Tall Mountain Forest, en route to village**_

John followed the pair toward this apparent village that was close by. Along the way, they pasted through layers of colors that seemed to grow across the forest. Plants and flowers of all shapes and sizes covered the soft ground. The trees were spread much farther apart than what he had seen earlier so there was much lighter. Some resembled the Oak trees of Earth while others looked like Pine trees. It was a strange combination of different shapes and color. In the distance, John heard the calls of the local fauna. Squawks and squeals and screeches of all kinds riddled the forest. Some of them reminded him of sounds he had heard on the many worlds he had "visited" during his time in the war. He wondered what had become of those planets. He knew they were most likely nothing more than floating balls of molten glass, but still, he wondered if there was any chance that some parts of those planets hadn't been bombarded with plasma. Though highly unlikely, John still wondered. _Did the Covenant burn every human world they attacked, or did they use them for their own benefit? _ONI could never be a hundred percent sure about that, since the UNSC forces attempting to defend the colonies rarely, if at all, stuck around to see the planet entirely glassed. So, there was a chance, albeit a very, very slim chance, but there was one.

As they made their way up a rising hillside, John hears the crackling of foliage about twenty meters below the trio of travelers. John, who had been trailing behind the two marines, quietly said to them, "Hold up."

They stopped and turned back to him. "What's up?" Adam asked.

John lifted his index finger to his faceplate and pointed in the direction of where he had heard the noise. John's hearing had been correct. About twenty meters below in a low clearing, stood a repulsive looking creature. It stood about six feet high and was covered with thick gray skin. Tentacles-like feelers lined the beast's sides, touching the surrounding brush. Its face and head seemed to be horribly disfigured and warped. Only one possible answer for what it could be came to John's mind: the Flood. He raised his assault rifle lightning fast and took aim to kill the beast.

Suddenly, just as he was about to pull the trigger, a hand reached up and grabbed the gun and tried to point it toward the ground. John cocked his head and saw Alice was the one trying to hold it down.

"Relax," she said, staring directly into his visor. "It's a Whorvex. It's kind of a big cow. It's harmless."

John turned back to the beast. Every fiber in his body wanted to the trigger. No one could stop him, even if they tried. It reminded him so much of the parasitic life form known as the Flood. The enemy that had taken the lives of so many and had nearly wiped out all of humanity. He wanted to put it down, to kill it on the spot, but he put the rifle down with considerable will power. Adam and Alice exchange looks and then Adam asked, "Are you ok?"

John did not answer for a moment, still staring at the creature. He then answered, "I'm fine." John preceded then to walk past the brother and sister and continued their original course. The pair looked at each other. Adam shrugged and they went to catch up with the Spartan.

After another half hour of moving north-west, John spotted what looked like a wall of some kind up ahead of their position. A sigh of relief came from Adam. "There it is."

As they got closer, John saw the apparent wall was two Scorpion Battle Tanks that were on their sides. In between them, stood what looked to be a gate. Suddenly, a voice came in through Alice and Adam's helmet speakers. "Hold on, let me get the door."

As they reached the gate, it began to slide up into the air and disappear above the gate. They quickly made their way into the village.

John was surprised at how many people were actually in the village. Upon entry, he saw small children playing a game with a makeshift ball of old rags. Then, he saw guards stationed along a walkway just below the top of the Scorpion wall and side walls. Next, he saw, deeper into the town, other personnel moving about the small shacks and buildings. They seemed to be mostly civilians. Up ahead, a middle aged man in standard UNSC Marine wear came waltzing up to them. He never took his eyes off John.

"Why is it that you two never seem to come back empty-handed?" He said his voice scratchy.

Alice smiled. "You know us, LT."

"Hmm." It was silent for a moment. He then said, this time addressing John, "What's your name son?"

"Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117-John."

The man was surprised by his name just like Adam was.

"A Spartan, huh?"

John nodded.

"Well, I am Lieutenant William Sands. It's a pleasure to meet a Spartan."

"Sir!" John saluted.

Williams returned the salute with precision.

Williams then let his hand fall to his sides. "All right, shall we go to my office?" His marine counterparts nodded in unison and followed their commanding officer. John followed close behind the trio. Their destination was on the other side of the village. John took a look at the village as they passed through. It was surrounded by a 12 foot wall of wood bound tightly together by thick cables of wire and vines. Most of the buildings that made up most of the village were no bigger than a shed. There looked to be some kind of market behind a short line of the shacks. As they passed through the village, John saw the villagers up close as well. A lot of them had torn clothing and pretty much all of them were covered in dirt and grime. They all turned and looked at him as he passed by them. Their expressions were typical of those who had never seen a Spartan up close and in person.

Up ahead, was a bluish-grey tent big enough to hide a Warthog under it. Once they entered it, John saw a make-shift desk sitting close to the back end of the tent. William sat down in the chair that must have been scavenged from an escape pod. It hissed quietly as he sat down. Alice and Adam went over and stood beside him. "So, where did you come from, Spartan?"

"My ship crashed after it entered orbit." John answered the Lieutenant, emotionless.

Williams cocked an eyebrow, "And how exactly did you get way out here?"

"Are you here to rescue us?" Adam chimed in, his voice full of hope.

"No, I'm not," John answered Adam, who looked at the ground in disappointment, "and I'm not really sure."

"It must have been some kind of side effect of the portal's closing." Cortana announced over the helmet speakers.

"Who said that?" Alice said, alarmed.

"I did." A small holographic figure of a woman appeared standing on the desk.

"Cortana," John said, surprised, "how did you-"

"I may have slightly altered your helmet light." She answered playfully.

"And who the hell are you?" Alice stated bluntly.

"This is Cortana, an A.I. and you can say my partner." John said.

"An A.I.? In the battlefield?" William stated. "I thought A.I's were too expensive to be risked in ground operations?"

"I was assigned to John for a "special" mission." Cortana answered the Lieutenant.

"And what mission would that be?"

"I'm sorry Lieutenant," John said. "But that information is classified." Even now, with the war at an end, he was still bound by the regulations of top secret information. Possibly, someday, the information of that long since abandoned mission would be released to the public, but not today.

William glared at John, obviously not happy with John's answer, but then sighed with resignation. "Fair enough. So do mind telling what has happened?"

John shook his head slightly. "It's a long story, sir."

"Well," William replied, folding his arms, "we've got time."

John nodded and began his tale. He told them of the Attack on Reach and its fall. He told them of Halo, Guilty Spark, the Flood, and Halo's destruction. He then told them of the Covenant assault on Earth and the discovery of Delta Halo. Next, he told them of the Ark, Truth's death, and their escape through the portal.

After John finished, which took well over an hour and a half to do so, all was quiet in the tent. No one said a word for several minutes. Then William finally said in a hushed tone, "So, it's over. It's really over."

John nodded. "Yes, sir."

Adam was the next one to speak, "We have been here for so long… I never thought it would end while I was still alive."

Alice said nothing. She just stared at John. She looked as if she couldn't accept what he had said as the truth. Cortana then raised her virtual eyebrow. "How long have you been here exactly?"

It was then Alice chose to speak, her voice sounded cold and emotionless. "Two and a half years. Some of us said that they came from Hydra. Others said they came from Harvest."

John tried to make sense of what Alice had just said. Hydra? Harvest? Both colonies lost at the beginning and very early in the war. How could they have gotten here when those planets were on the other side of the galaxy? He was about to ask how that was possible when a young man came running into the tent. "LT. They're here."

William then snapped to attention, "Right." He then got up from his desk and left the tent. John looked to Alice and Adam. They glanced at each other and went out as well. Curious, John followed after them. Outside, several of the military personnel were gathered near the gate. He followed them and saw, once he was closer, what the commotion was about. There, standing next to two of the same creatures he had seen earlier, were three Jackals. Adrenaline began pulsing through his veins. He wanted to rush in and attack the Jackals head on, but he kept his pace because the people around them did not seem to be reacting to them hostilely. Once he joined with the crowd, he saw what exactly was going on. William was talking to one of the Jackals that he guessed was the leader of this group. And, surprisingly, the Jackal was speaking to him in _English. _

"I told you," William said to the Jackal, "we have nothing to trade at the moment. The last storm blew away our main crop for this harvest."

"Come now, dear William," the Jackal said in warbled English. Strangely, though, it sounded very business-like. "We both know you have reserve stocks of food. Why not just give us half of your stores and we'll give you one of our power generators. I know that your technology requires quite a bit of power to run properly."

"As tempting as that sounds," William replied sarcasm lining his words, "no. If we did that, half of our people would starve before the next harvest."

From what John could tell from the Jackal's expression, it didn't look convinced. "Now I'm sure we can work something out."

"Rak, I have already told you, we have nothing to trade at the moment. You will have to come back another time."

Still unconvinced, Rak was about to say something else when he finally noticed John. His eagle-like eyes widened as he realized who and what he was looking at.

"Demon!" he exclaimed. The two other Jackals, who were apparently the caravan guards, pulled Covenant Carbines off their backs and took aim at John. John, William, Alice, Adam, and the rest of the military personnel drew their weapons and aimed at them as well. For a second, it was quiet in the semi-circle of fire power. Then, Rak spoke, obviously trying to keep his anger under control. "You never told us that you had a Demon here."

William answered him in a calm, controlled tone. "He arrived just today."

William's answer did not put Rak at ease. He kept his gaze on John. He sized John up over and over again. He then said with anger and fear just barely being kept under control, "How did you come here?"

John took a moment before answering. He couldn't decide if he should tell this Rak about his crashed ship. _Hell, _he thought, _there's no chance of repairing it, so what's the harm?_

"My ship crashed here after half of it made it through to our original destination." He answered the Jackal, not wanting to give away too much information.

"And what exactly was your "destination"." Rak demanded.

"One of our remaining colony worlds." John replied, keeping his tone level.

"Do you taking me for a fool, Demon?" Rak spat. The two other Jackals tensed even more.

"You and I both know that there are no Human colonies this far from that dirt rock you call a home world."

That last comment did not sit well with a few of the Marines around John. _They must be from Earth, _John thought.

William glanced around and could tell his Marines were ready to kill Rak and his guards without a moment's hesitation. Although, if they did that, that would not be good for trade purposes.

"I think it would be wise for you to leave, Rak. I don't know about the Spartan, but I can tell you that these Marines are ready for a fight and I'm not sure if I could stop them if one is started."

"Are you threatening me, Lieutenant?" Rak growled.

"No," he answered carefully, "I'm just letting you know what might happen if you do not leave."

Rak took another look at John, and then returned his gaze to William. "Very well," he replied, calmly. "We will return another time, but know this, Lieutenant; you would be wise to keep your Demon out of sight. The others on this godforsaken world may not be so ….controlled when they see him."

And with those final words, Rak and his caravan left through the gate and back into the forest. William let out a relieved sigh. "Well, that went well."

"Lieutenant," John asked, "what did he mean by "others"?"

William rubbed his temple and answered, "Well, John, is it? I have a long story for you."

William waved John to follow him back to the tent and there, he got some answers.

**All right, that was Chapter 3. If any of you guys have any suggestions or ideas of what you would like to see in upcoming chapters, please it in your review or send me a PM. Please R & R and I'll see you next time.**


	4. Reminising part 1

**Hey guys, I'm back. Okay, I know I've kept you all waiting for two months, but will wait no longer! Since school is now out, I'll have more time, and hopefully more drive to write. Now, if any of you guys have been following my other fanfiction, Children of the Sphere, I'm sorry to announce that I have deleted it from the site and will not be writing it anymore. I am truly sorry, but it is gone.**

**Now, back to business. This chapter will be a kind of flashback to go along with the ending of chapter 3, where William was about to tell John the story of how they got to that planet. I'm going to break this flashback into two parts because it's so long. In the next update, and possibly in others along down the road, there will be space engagements. If I make a mistake in the way these happen or something doesn't make sense, I apologize. This is my first time writing space battles so any insight on how they should go down would be much appreciated. **

**Ok, I'm gonna stop babbling on so you can get to reading. Enjoy!**

_**1350 hours, May 2**__**nd**__**, 2550 (Military Calendar) **_

_**Slipspace, en route to Deep Space Station, **__Twilight_

_**On board Halycon- class cruiser**__, Summer's Ending_

On the bridge of the UNSC cruiser, _Summer's Ending_, stood Captain Evan Sawyer, watching the display screen in front of the bridge view port. He stood as he saw the rest of the ship's primary and secondary systems comeback online. He scratched the back of his aging head.

"Samuel, status." He said.

A holographic appeared on a pedestal near the display screen. It was of a young man, dressed in a wetsuit with a blue strip going down its sides and an emblem resembling a wave residing on his chest. The hologram had dirty blonde hair that stood up on his head like spikes on a porcupine. Its eyes were as blue as the waters of the sea.

"The final members of the crew are being awakened from cryosleep and are returning to their duties." The A.I. answered the captain. "All systems are coming back online without any problems. We will be dropping out of Slipspace in less than five minutes."

"Good," the captain sighed. _So far so good_, he thought. He didn't like the idea of going this far from Earth without additional support, but none could be spared. Plus, due to the secrecy and importance of their task, it would be simpler to keep information leaks from occurring with only one ship. Their package was too important for Intel on it to be leaked. He did not know all the facts, but he knew it could possibly be the most important discovery of the entire war.

The door to the bridge slid open and Lieutenant William Sands entered. He made his way past the other bridge officers and saluted to the captain. "Sir."

Captain Sawyer saluted in returned. "At ease, Lieutenant."

"Sleep well?" Samuel inquired.

"About as well as you can sleep in a freezer." William replied with a half-smile.

"Indeed."

Samuel turned his gaze to an offset wall on the bridge, while he analyzed new incoming data.

"Two minutes until we drop out of Slipspace."

The captain and William nodded to the A.I. and took their seats. Through a series of terrible events, William had been left the commanding officer of a little over a hundred marines, plus two squads of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODST's for short. At first, he found his new found responsibilities a little overwhelming, but as time went on, it became easier to command so many personnel as they learned to like and respect him. Still, his position of authority sometimes weighed on him when fights occurred between his troopers or they would take losses. He had thought of handing over his command to another officer, but something kept him there; something inside him said not to give away his command. So, he has remained in his position. He was to be promoted to Colonel when they returned to Earth.

"Thirty seconds until normal space re-entry." Samuel announced to the bridge.

Captain Sawyer pressed the intercom button on his keypad. "This is Captain Sawyer. Prepare to drop out of Slipspace." He released the key.

"Re- entering normal space," Samuel said, "in three…two… one."

Captain Sawyer and William felt their insides being warped slightly as the stars returned to view from behind the black void of Slipspace. Soon their guts returned to their original locations in their bodies and all was normal.

"Slipspace drive spinning down, bringing main engines back online." The ship's navigator yelled over his shoulder.

"Increase speed to two-thirds normal speed. Plot a course to the station."

"Aye, sir. Estimated arrival time: six and half hours."

"Good, keep me informed if anything changes." The captain got up from his chair and motioned for the William to get up. "The lieutenant and I will head down to the Mess Hall and brief the crew." William stood up from his seat and walked with Captain Sawyer to the elevator that would take them to the Mess Hall.

Alice felt herself waking from the deep, chilling sleep of the Cryo pod. She lazily lifted her eyelids, not wanting to awaken just yet. Cryosleep is the only time she ever got any real sleep. She sighed softly and sat up in her pod. The voice of her brother came from the pod next to hers. "Uggh, we there yet?"

"Why else would they wake us up?" she said, looking over at him.

"Uh, maybe the war's over and we get to go home now?" he replied with a small smile.

"Yeah, right," she chuckled. He gave a slight laugh as well.

They both got out of their pods and heard a voice come over the intercom.

"_This is Captain Sawyer. Prepare to drop out of Slipspace."_

"You heard the man." Adam said. He grabbed onto the side of his pod, while Alice braced herself against the cold steel wall of the deck. The icy cold metal stung her bare skin. Their internal organs moved around somewhat inside them, but then settle back right after the transition to normal space was completed.

"God, I hate that." Alice said, clutching her stomach.

"I didn't feel a thing." Adam replied, looking rather pale at the moment.

Alice chuckled. "Come on, tough guy, let's get some clothes on."

Adam nodded in agreement. The walked over to their assigned storage lockers for the Cryo Bay. Since it is generally not a good idea to wear anything when going into cryosleep, unless you want "freezer burn", lockers are given to the various crewmembers on board to store their clothing until they are awakened. After being properly dressed in standard marine uniform, they had their way to the mess hall, where they could get some breakfast and receive their orders.

It only took them a few minutes to their way to their destination. Inside, most of the mess was full; containing what appeared to be a majority of the UNSC marine forces on this ship. After making their way through the line for a meal, if a couple ration bars and carton of milk can be considered a meal, they found their way to a free table.

"So," Adam said, "Got any clue what this whole things about?"

Alice shook her head. "Nope."

Then, a brown headed young woman with fair white skin came waltzing over to their table and plopped down beside Alice.

"Hey, guys," She smiled.

"Hey Wendy," Alice replied to the woman. Wendy had been assigned to Alice and Adam's unit going on six months now, and almost immediately she became quite close with the brother and sister.

"How was the freezer?" Wendy asked the pair.

"Same as always," Adam answered as he took a chunk out of one of his ration bars.

Wendy almost never went into cryo when everyone else normally would. The thought of being stuck inside a giant freezer for weeks at a time just didn't appeal to her. So, whenever the time came, she and a few other crewmen would stay awake throughout the journey. She always found something to entertain herself with. Whether it was working out in the ship's weight room, or writing letters to her family back home. She even set up a game of bowling once with an old basketball and a bunch of empty cans.

"Any thoughts on what this trip is for?" Alice questioned her friend.

"Scuttlebutt is that we're supposed to pick up some important package they found floating out near the edge of the Chi Ceti system."

"Chi Ceti? What could possibly be there that's so important?"

"No idea. There's nothing of value there except that mothballed research facility."

After the attack on the Damascus Testing Facility in 2525, the UNSC decided to abandon the system since there was nothing else of importance there. The facility was shut down; all experimental technology and project notes were taken to another testing station or destroyed.

"Any thoughts of what the package is?" Adam inquired.

Wendy shook her head. "They're keeping that info under a heavy "need to know" basis."

Just then, the whole mess hall became quiet. The trio turns to look what was going on, and they saw the captain and lieutenant came in.

"Good morning, marines," the captain began, "I hope your cold nap was enjoyable, because the mission begins now."

A few cheers came from the Helljumpers and other battle hungry marines.

"Now, as many of you know, we are heading for Deep Space Station, _Twilight_, for a top secret pick up. But what you may not know is that through unknown sources, Intel may have been leaked to Insurrectionists or…" Captain Sawyer hesitated for a moment then continued. "Or to the Covenant."

A ripple of whispers worked their way through the ranks of personnel within the mess hall. Most of them weren't expecting a fight with the Covenant, and none really wanted to. Besides a few new recruits, the infantry on this ship had all seen the horrors of fighting the Covenant.

"Now, there is no confirmation of this, but Command doesn't want to take any chances, so we are to get the package and get back to Earth as quickly and discreetly as possible."

He turned to the lieutenant and nodded. "All right, marines," William said, "I want this to go as smoothly as humanly possible. I will assemble the team to board the station and act as security for the package. Names will be called for the team at 1700 hours. Dismissed."

With that, the lieutenant and captain took their leave of the mess. Everyone left within the hall went back to their breakfast with a new conversation topic.

"Well," Adam stated, "didn't see that coming."

"Yeah," Alice replied. "Wonder who the teams will be."

"I bet at least one of you will get picked," Wendy said. "After all, you two are the best sharpshooters we have."

"Yeah, I'm good," Adam replied, "But I'm better with explosives and one of these." He pulled a small pocket knife from his boot. No matter how many you took away from him, he'd have another knife hidden somewhere on him. And he has proved he knows how to use them.

"You're more likely to get picked, Cross." He said to Alice. "Cross" was her nickname from when they were little. She got it from the cross necklace she practically never took off, and for the fact she could hit almost any target she saw through the crosshairs of her rifle.

"Maybe," she replied.

"Oh, I hope I get picked," Wendy said with a longing tone. "I want a chance to show what I can do."

"Easy, Wends," Adam said, "You proved yourself already back at Paris VI, remember?"

"Yeah, but that wasn't a high security op like this one. I want to show the LT that I can handle a mission like this."

"Well, just remember I've always got your back." Adam smiled.

Wendy blushed a little. Alice rolled her eyes. Adam and Wendy had had a crush on each other ever since she had joined their unit. They haven't done anything that could get them into trouble with the officers, but they were still careful not to broadcast that they liked each other.

"Ok, love birds," Alice jumped in. "I'm heading to the showers." She got up from their table. "I'll be there if you need me."

"See you later," Adam said as she walked away from them.

_**30 minutes till station contact**_

Alice stood in the armory preparing her gear for the op. As it turns out, she had been chosen to go pick up the package from the station, along with three other guys from her unit: Zack, Turner, and Griffin, plus one of the Helljumpers named Rex. Their team was codename: Rhino. She strapped on her armor and helmet fairly quickly. After making sure everything was secured, she grabbed her battle rifle, plus a few clips, and headed out to find the hangar bay.

It only took a few minutes to get from the armory to the hangar, where the rest of her team awaited their orders to begin their assignment. She entered and saw Zack and Griffin over by the Pelican they would be taking to the station.

"Hey, Cross," Turner said as she came over to them. Turner was their team's could hack just about every door and computer system oon the ship. He had short, black hair, blue eyes, and a small scar on his chin from a childhood accident. He was one of the few people Alice thought of as being her friend besides Adam and Wendy.

"Hey, took you long enough to get here," Zack stated when she joined them. Zack had brown hair that was longer than UNSC regs usually allowed. He always waited a while before getting it cut again. His eyes were a light shade of brown. He was their team's residential medic and all around jackass. He seemed to find something to complain about or just be plain rude. But he was the best medic on this ship, even though no one wanted to admit it.

"Shut it, Zack," Alice replied and turned to Griffin, "Where's Turner and that Helljumper, Rex?"

Griffin shrugged. "Probably in the armory still suiting up."

"Turner always takes an hour just to lace up one boot." Zack said.

"Look who's talking, mister "I can't tie my shoes in these conditions"." Griffin laughed. Alice proudly joined in.

Zack frowned. "Hey, it's not my fault that those things seem to come undone every time there's a battle."

"So you can't wait until the enemy is dead or in retreat to retie them?" Alice asked the medic.

"Well, I'm sorry if I like to have my boots ready for when I need to run."

Alice rolled her eyes and then noticed Turner and Rex heading their way. "There they are."

Zack and Griffin turned and see them as well. "Hey Turner, where you been?" Griffin asked his fellow marine.

"Sorry, got stopped by some of those paranoid armory techs. I swear, they won't let you take anything out of their without it being cleaned and tested like three times." He answered. Turner had dirty blonde hair that he kept at regulation length at all times. His eyes were a deep green like the algae you find in the ocean. He was the youngest of their team; only being twenty two next Zack, Griffin, and Alice who were in their mid-thirties. They all had joined the UNSC just a few years ago and already they had all seen so much. Turner had been with the squad longer than Wendy, but he was still considered a rookie by the others.

"Yeah," Alice replied, agreeing. "They can be annoying."

"And what's your excuse?" Zack asked Rex.

He was in full ODST battle armor, including the helmet so his face could not be seen. All of them had heard stories about this guy and if even half of them were true, the Rex was definitely not someone to mess with. He didn't answer Zack's question. Instead, he completely ignored him and went and placed his gear on the Pelican. He set his silenced SMG, a special weapon that only Helljumpers have access to, on one of the seats on the right side, chose the one next to it, and sat down.

"Well then," Zack mumbled irritably.

"Hey," Griffin said in a low voice, "watch yourself. I don't Rex is someone you of all people want to get pissed off."

"He doesn't scare me." Zack stated. He looked over at Rex in the Pelican. He was playing around with a rather large knife he kept in a sheath on his chest plate, turning over and over in his hand; even throwing up in the air and catching it by the tip of the blade without cutting himself.

Zack's eyes widened and he swallowed a lump the size of a golf ball that had suddenly formed in his throat.

Out of the blue, the captain's voice came over the cruiser's intercom. He sounded very alarmed.

_Crew, this is Captain Sawyer. Prepare for evasive maneuvers. We have inbound Covenant vessels bearing down on us._

**All right, that's the first half of chapter 4. I will try to get the next part out sometime in June. See you then!**


	5. Reminising part 2

**Hey there, people, it's me again! Sorry I'm late, but took me longer to get this done than I thought it would. This, like I had stated in part one, will feature space combat. I hope you enjoy it. **

**P.S. I don't know how many of you have heard, but they have revealed the teaser trailer for (Drum Roll) HALO 4! I suggest you go check out the trailer if you haven't seen it yet. I about had a heart attack when I saw it. **

**All right, let's get on with it. Here is part 2.**

Alarms blared all over the ship. Crew ran in every which direction, all trying to get to their battle stations. Up on the bridge, Captain Sawyer sat in his seat, going over what needed to be done. Approximately two minutes ago, they had detected Slipspace ruptures just outside their weapons range. Two Covenant corvette class ships had come out behind them. Once their systems had come back online, they began an intercept course for the _Summer's Ending._

"Send word to the _Twilight_," Captain Sawyer said to the communications officer," tell them that we've got company."

"Aye sir," the communication officer replied.

"Bring weapons online and bring us about. Let's send these bastards back to Hell."

The bridge crew cheered. They were ready to fight. The doors slid open and Lieutenant Sands rushed in.

"What's the hell is going on, captain?" he asked, obviously concerned over the announcement over the intercom.

"Two Covenant corvettes are coming up right behind us. Looks like the Intel on this place had been leaked after all."

William studied the main display screen. They could handle one corvette without taking too much damage. One MAC round could probably bring down a corvette's shields and one more would rip through its armor, putting it down. But two would prove to be a challenge. They might be able to take them both out but not without taking critical damage, but the fight was going to be bloody no matter what.

A yell came from the sensor station. "Capitan, multiple boarding craft detected. They're heading for the _Twilight_!"

Sawyer cursed under his breath. "As if we didn't have enough problems."

Samuel stood on his holo panel. "They're most likely after our package."

"Sir," William stated, "we need to get to the package before they do."

"There is no way we can get to the station without killing those corvettes first, Lieutenant."

"Captain, if we can't get the package onboard now, then there's no way in hell we'll get our hands on it once the Covenant capture the station."

Sawyer sat there for a moment, pondering on what to do.

"Captain," Samuel spoke out, "the corvettes are getting closer and the boarding craft are nearing the station."

"Very well," Captain Sawyer finally said, "Lieutenant, get you team ready. They're going in hot."

"Yes, sir," William nodded and ran back out the bridge.

William grabbed his gear quickly and hurried to the hangar bay. The ship's crew ran back and forth through the corridors, making for very fast paced traffic. He reached the hangar bulkhead in record time, though, and made a beeline over to his team's Pelican.

"What going on, LT?" Turner asked him.

"What's going on is that we've got Covies closing in on our package, Private," he answered.

"So what are we gonna do?" Griffin asked.

"We" are going to stick to our original orders: get on the station, grab the package and bring it back to the ship."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "And the Covie ships?"

"That's for the captain to deal with. Right now, we've got a job to do."

"Yes sir!" All four the Marines shouted and boarded the drop ship. Griffin took the seat closest to the exit ramp. Turner plopped down next to him. Zack, not want to be on the same side as Rex since he was terrified of him, sat on the opposite row of him. Alice went over and sat next to him. Finally, William got on board and sat next to the Helljumper.

"Pilot," he shouted back to the cockpit, "Let's get moving."

"Aye, aye, sir," the pilot shouted back, "Yawl keep your hand and feet inside the vehicle at all time and get ready to drop into hell."

The Pelican's engines began their warm up sequence. The exit ramp folded up, sealing the cabin. A huge mechanical arm latched on to the Pelican and lifted it off the deck. It moved the ship over to a large airlock that was built into the deck, allowing for quick and easy drops for Pelicans. It was a new feature that was being installed in as many ships as possible, hoping to make some difference in the efficiency of Pelican flight times.

The airlock doors slid open and the arm lowered the ship into it. There was a second airlock door that actually led to open space about a dozen meters below. Magnetic clamps attached themselves to the Pelican's sides, creating a jolt that shook the cabin and all its passengers roughly.

"Damm," Zack said bitterly, "You'd think they'd thought of a way for that not to shake so hard."

"Oh you have to find something to bitch about, don't you," Griffin stated.

"Oh course," Zack replied, "if I didn't, I would have no personality, now would I?"

"That's more then you have right now," Griffin muttered under his breath.

"Can it, both of you," William stepped in, "or you can walk the rest of the way."

Once the clamps were secured the arm released and the first airlock sealed. The second door slowly opens, venting the space of air pressure. The red drop lights in the Pelican's cabin flicked on and the pilot began the countdown. "Dropping in five… four,"

All the marines braced themselves against the walls and seats. "Three… two…"

"Hold on to you helmets," William shouted.

"One… drop."

The clamps released in a flash and Pelican goes into free-fall. The whole ship shook violently for the few moments it could to clear the ship. When they hit open space under the belly of the cruiser, the main engines fired, stabilizing the vessel. The shaking ceased and all was calm once more within the Pelican. Thrusters fired and the Pelican flew away from the speeding cruiser toward the station.

Back on the bridge, Captain Sawyer watched as team Rhino's Pelican sped off to the station. He hoped they would have an easier time securing the _Twilight _than taking care of the ships but he knew it would not be that easy. Their fate, though, was no longer in his hands. He had a responsibility to the lives of the people still on this ship; to keep them alive and get them home.

"Captain, the first corvette is closing on us," Samuel stated, "estimated time to contact: two minutes."

"Weapons officer, charged the MAC, lock on to that corvette and be ready to fire on my signal."

"Aye, sir," the weapons officer replied and keyed in the captain's orders, "target is locked, MAC charge is at twenty percent… twenty five percent…"

An alarm came from the sensor station. "Captain, enemy corvette is firing."

Sawyer watched the view screen as the first corvette's plasma cannons began to open fire. They were lucky it was only corvettes, if it had been cruisers or even a pair of frigates, they would be being hit with plasma torpedoes, which can be guided to their target, instead of normal plasma bolts. The hull shook as the bolts impacted the hull. A corvette's cannons can't do as much damage to a cruiser than a Covenant plasma torpedo would, but they can be fired repeatedly and their shots sear right through battle plate like any plasma would.

"Hull breaches detected on B deck," Samuel announced in that always calm, kind of creepy tone most A.I's seem to have.

"Seal them off," Sawyer ordered and heard the distant thumps of bulkheads sealing and more plasma impacts.

"MAC cannon's at sixty five percent," the weapons officer called out.

"Prime Archer missile pods A through C. Wait five seconds after the MAC fires then launch them," ordered the captain.

"Aye, aye, sir," weapons called back. "Missile primed and MAC gun at eighty percent."

The corvette closed to about three hundred kilometers away from the _Summer's Ending._ Its' cannons continued to lay down a barrage on the cruiser. It turned to it side so it could get a better angle.

"Navigation," the captain shouted, "reduce speed and turn on point two, two, one. Line us up with those bastards."

"Yes, sir!" the nav officer replied and did as he was told. The cruiser slowed and began to turn toward the corvette. The two vessels were close now, only two hundred kilometers apart.

"MAC charged," Weapons shouted to the captain.

"Fire!"

The lights on the bridge dimmed and the whole ship reverberated as the main gun fired. A few seconds later, multiple thumps followed and dozens of smart rockets sped off toward their intended target. The corvette shimmered silver as the MAC round stuck it's shields, knocking them out. Small flashes appeared against the darkness of space, revealing that several of the Archer missiles had been destroyed by the corvette's point defenses. Still, dozens of other got through, peppering the ship's hull. Small fires covered the corvettes' center mass. It dipped down under the _Summer's Ending_, avoiding a collision that would've destroyed both ships. The cannons on the corvette trained upward, firing on the underbelly of the cruiser. Molten battle plate flew off from the ship as the shots burned through the armor.

"Multiple hull breaches on E Deck! We're venting atmosphere!" Called out the crewman at the Damage Control console.

"Close emergency bulkheads! Navigation, increase speed and turns us around. Weapons, recharge the MAC and prepare another salvo of missiles."

Suddenly, an explosion rocks the entire cruiser and the bridge lights went out. The ship's emergency lights kick on, allowing for minimal visibility on the deck.

"What just happened?" Sawyer asked the entire bridge, hoping someone would answer.

"We just lost primary power to all decks. Engines are running at forty percent." Someone answered.

"What about weapons?"

The weapons officer checked his console. "We've lost MAC control and Archer pods E, G, and H."

"Do we have enough power to fire pod D?"

The officer checked and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Excellent, get the best lock you can get on their engines. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Aye, sir."

"Captain," Samuel spoke out, "This may not be the best time, but I thought you should know the second corvette is not partaking in the battle."

"What?" Captain Sawyer said. "Show me."

The view screen changed and showed the other corvette still en route to the _Twilight._

_Damm it, they tricked us. One of them distracted us while the other took its chance and waltzed right up to the front door._ The captain thought.

Sawyer slammed his fist on the chair arm in frustration."Damm it!" He hated being outsmarted, especially by a bunch of gas sucking, split faced freaks.

The cruiser finally manages to swing around and pursue the damaged corvette.

"We've got a lock on the portside engines." Samuel told the captain.

"Fire!"

Several muffled thumps rang out and a dozen small flares of burning rocket fuel were flying at the corvette. Luckily, it hadn't been able to bring its shields back up and with no point defenses covering the portside now to defend the engines, the first barrage destroyed many of them, there was no barrier between the missiles and their target. The corvette's engines flared bright blue and exploded in a brilliant blinding white light. Sawyer closed his eyes to keep them from being burned out from the intensity. Once the light had diminished, Sawyer opened his eyes and saw what had once been the Covenant corvette. They must've hit something vital because the back half of the ship was completely gone and the other half was in ruins.

The whole bridge cheered at their victory. Sawyer sighed in relief. _One less headache to deal with, _he thought and turned his focus to the _Twilight_ station.

"Navigation, best speed to the station. Weapons, try to get the MAC gun back online. We're not done yet."

Onboard the pelican, things were much calmer. Only another ten minutes until they docked with the _Twilight. _William was up in the cockpit, watching the battle be raging on behind them on a small view screen. He just hoped they could hold them off long enough for his team to complete their mission.

"Coming up on the station," the pilot said over his shoulder and flicked several of the many switches on his dashboard. "Deep Space Station, _Twilight,_ this Pelican flight, Zero- Delta- Charlie, requesting clearance to dock."

A short moment of static later, a response came. _"Clearance granted, Delta Charlie. Who's your friends playing with the Summer?"_

"Hey, we didn't invite them," the pilot replied.

William looked out the cockpit glass at the station growing larger by the second. Then out of no- where, close to a dozen Covenant boarding craft zoomed past the small dropship.

"Awe, shit,_ Twilight_, you've got multiple boarding craft bearing down on you."

"_We see them Delta Charlie. Damm, station defenses are down… They've gotten in… ….._Explosions, sidearm and rifle fire rang out in the background, followed my plasma fire and horrific screams of pain. The sounds could be heard in the holding cabin, where the Marines sat. Griffin sought out the floor with his eyes. Turner shut his to try and keep from breaking down. Zack stared off at nothing, probably trying not to listen to the cries. Rex's expression, of course, could not be seen through his visor. Alice felt a chill go up her spine as the pilot finally switched off the radio. No matter how long you've been at war, no matter how many you have watched fall, the sounds of the dying will always sting you in some way, shape or form.

The Lieutenant came back into the cabin. Alice looked up at his stone cold expression. She knew he would keep his composure even if to only keep up the morale of the team. He looked around at his Marines, studying their reactions to the transmission.

"We've got a job to do," he said in a low voice, "let's get it done."

The Pelican zoomed up to the station hangar bay outer door. The pilot typed in the authorization codes and the door slid open. The ship flew in and began to land as the door slowly slid shut. The Marines stood up from their seats. Alice checked her rifle and flicked off the safety. The ramp lowered to the metal floor of the hangar and the marines piled out. With weapons at the ready, they secured the perimeter around the dropship. William stepped out onto the deck.

"All right, we gotta move fast, before the Covenant find their way into the hangar," he said.

"We should probably try to get to Station Control," Griffin said. "The package location should be in their computer."

"Got it, Cross, Rex, you're on point; Zack and Turner, cover our backs; Griffin, find us a path to Control."

"Sir!" the Marines replied and took their positions. They moved across the bay to an entrance door. Alice and Rex pressed up against each side of it. Griffin moved over to a small keypad on the wall next to the door. He punched in a code and a tiny beep came from it. He looked at Alice and gave a thumbs up. She nodded and the door slid apart. Weapon raised, she entered and waved the team in. They worked their way through several corridors facing no opposition. It had been strangely quiet ever since they'd boarded. None of them liked it. After ten minutes of moving through multiple through the winding halls, they stopped at a console.

"Griffin," William said, "plug into that console; try to find a map of this place."

"You got it, sir," Griffin replied. He took out a datapad from one of his vest pockets and started working.

"You two," William pointed at Alice and Rex and then pointed at the hall ahead of the group. "take this and see what we have ahead of us."

Alice and Rex nodded in acknowledgment and started down the hall. They followed the passageway through a series of others, searching for nothing in had managed to get in front of Rex who was farther back. She rounded a corner and found herself face to face with a Jackal, standing in the middle of an intersection of other corridors. Its eagle- like eyes went wide and tried for the plasma pistol on its waist. Alice was quicker, though, and tackled it to the floor. It squawked and tried to get Alice off it. It hit her upside of her head and knocked her against the wall.

It stood and grabbed its plasma pistol. It aimed down at her, preparing to fire. Suddenly, it turned its head and was knocked off its feet again by Rex. This time, the Jackal had no chance to fight back. Rex had ripped the pistol from its claw and shoved his M6D into its chest. He pulled the trigger three times and watched the spark of life leave the alien. He got up and turned to Alice. He reached down his hand, which she gladly took. He pulled her up and she leaned against the wall.

"Thanks," she said. Rex nodded in response. "You all right?" he asked.

_So he can speak_, Alice thought. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Good." He replied simply. Alice detected a slight Russian accent in his voice.

A bolt of plasma whizzed by suddenly. Alice looked down the corridor on the right and saw a second and third Jackal crouched behind their personal energy shields. They fired more plasma down the hall. Rex and Alice returned fire, only to see their shots be deflected by the shields. They had to take cover in hall they had come from. Alice keyed her radio.

"LT, we've got two Jackals laying down suppressing fire on us. Looks like our guest finally found us."

_I copy, Cross. You two get back here. We found a route to Station Control._

"Roger, we're on our way back." She said and turned to Rex.

"We are heading back."

He nodded and reached down to his belt and grabbed a grenade. He pulled the pin and tossed it down the hall where the Jackals were still firing. The two then sprinted back the way had come. A deep thud echoed through passages when the grenade went off, hopefully killing the Jackals. They rushed through the corridors they'd taken before and wound up back with the team.

"What took you?" Zack asked.

"Had a few loose ends to blow up," Alice answered.

"Since your back," William interjected, "let's get moving before of our guests show up."

They quickly passed through the winding halls of the station to the Station Control room. They took positions along the adjacent walls of the door, preparing to breach it. The door's security systems had been activated so Griffin had to hack it to get it. When he was finish, William gave a three- count and the squad breached the spacious control room. The room was devoid of any signs of life. Bullet holes and scorch marks painted the walls and consoles. Blood and bodies littered the floor, mostly human. A dead Elite and a few Grunts were mixed in, but the majority bore the UNSC insignia.

William sighed. "Check for survivors."

The group spread out amongst the dead, searching for any living creature left within the room.

Turner looked down at one of the dead crewman. "Damm, they never stood a chance."

"At least they managed to take a couple of the bastards with them," Alice replied, kicking one of the Grunts in the head.

Griffin stood at one the consoles, typing excessively. He slammed his fist on it, frustrated.

"Shit! This thing is fried halfway to Sunday. It'll take days and a full maintenance crew to get it working again."

"Keep trying," William said.

"We've got a survivor here!" Zack called out from over by the communication console.

Everyone converged around him. Zack was crouched beside a bloodied young man with tanned skin, a shaven head with a deep cut across the top of his skull. His uniform was charred in places where he'd taken plasma bolts. Zack pulled out his medical kit.

"His pulse and blood pressure is erratic. I'm gonna try and stabilize him."

William squatted down to eye level of the man. "What's your name, son?"

The man's eyes fluttered and slowly opened. They were dark and filed with pain.

"Ray… Carter… sir," he managed between agonizing breaths.

"Ray, listen to me, can you tell me what happened here?" William asked with sympathy in his voice.

"We… had… no warning…" he gasped out. "They were… inside before… we knew what was happening…"

He coughed violently and began to slip away.

"Lieutenant, I need you to keep him awake." Zack said preparing a dose of pain killers.

"Ray, come on, I need you to stay with me," William said.

Suddenly, Ray sat forward and grabbed William on the arm. He stared the Lieutenant straight in the eyes and struggled out these words: "Get it out. Get it home." And with those final words, he fell back to the bloody floor and finally died. Zack looked down at the once living crewman with grief. "Damm." He said and packed up his med kit. If there's one thing Zack hates more than not having his way, its losing a patient under his care. He closed the dead man's still open eyes.

The sound of automatic fire sounded out from the hall. The team rushed toward out into the hall and found several UNSC security personnel firing on a group of Grunts that had been pursuing them. William and his team lent some support to help them finish the gas suckers off.

"Thanks for the assist," one of the personnel said and reached out his hand. "Darren Willows, chief of security." Darren had blue eyes and jet black hair that covered eyes.

William took the man's hand they shook. "Lieutenant William Sands. Seems you've got a real pest problem."

The security chief cracked a smile. "Yes, sir, we've been trying to get a handle on them, but we don't have the manpower."

Suddenly, William's radio clicked on and their Pelican pilot as on the other end.

_Lieutenant, do you copy?_

"I copy, Delta Charlie, what's your situation?"

_I've got Covenant troops putting holes in my bird. I gotta take off now!_

William sighed out a curse. "I read you, Delta Charlie. Return to the ship. Get out of here."

_I'm sorry, sir._ And the conversation ended.

"Great," Zack shouted loudly, "now how do we get off this floating tin can?"

"We can use the escape pods on the lower deck," Darren replied, "but we'll have to hurry."

"Why?" Turner asked him.

"When the Covenant attacked the control room, someone started the auto destruct sequence."

"Well that's just great. Could this get any worse?" Zack asked no one in particular.

The Pelican appeared out of a nearby window, flying back to the _Summer's Ending_. Then, in a spit second, it disintegrated in a massive burst of blue white plasma, and a Covenant corvette floated into view.

"You just had to say it, didn't you?" Griffin angrily shouted at Zack.

"Okay, time to go!" Darren said and motioned his men to follow him.

"Wait!" William said. "We were sent to pick up a package. Where is it?"

"It's down in one of our storage bays, but you don't have a chance in Hell of moving it. Covies are crawling all over that deck and, besides, there's not enough time to get it to an escape pod."

"What deck is it on?" William asked him, not willing to abandon his mission so easily.

Darren shook his head and let out a breath. "D deck, Section 6, but you've got to understand, sir, there's only a few minutes left until this station goes."

"I understand perfectly, chief, but we've got a job to do and I intend to finish it. You take your people and get them out."

"It's your choice. Good luck sir," Darren said.

"You, too, chief." And with those parting words, the two groups separated, going their separate ways. William and the rest of his team found a service elevator that would take them where they needed to go. It was a tit fit, but they all squeezed in and started down to D deck. An automated alarm went off and a computerized voice came through the P.A. System:

_Alert! Alert! Auto destruct sequence initiated. Time until detonation: seven minutes._

The elevator slowed to a halt and the door slid open to reveal two Grunts standing in front of it. They were dispatched quickly with precise shots to the head. Once it was clear there were no more enemies near the elevator, the team exited and made a mad dash toward the storage was a little hard missed, with the door being large to fit a Warthog through it. Griffin worked his magic and the door opened with a hiss. The room was pitched black inside; nothing could be seen beyond the light coming through the doorway. The team flicked on their flashlights and entered. Alice moved along a row of crates.

"Found the lights," someone called out. One by one, the lights anchored to the high ceiling flickered on and there it sat; the only thing that was of any worth at the present time. It sat hovering a meter off the floor, emitting a kind of harmonious hum. Its shape made it look like a giant cigar, but solid silver. There were no grooves or breaks in its outer layer; no evidence of how it made itself float in midair, either. It was maybe two, three meters in length and a full meter tall.

"Wow," Griffin whispered.

Turner walked over to it and touched it. He jerked his hand back.

"It's cold as ice."

Alice went over and put her hand on it. The cold stung her nerve endings, but after a second, the object became warm and relaxing. She noticed a kind of tingle coming from within the device. She placed her ear on it and heard a peculiar noise.

"Cross, what are you doing?" Zack asked her.

She raised her hand in the air and lifted her index finger. She began to listen again. It had a steady rhythm. _Thump… thump… thump… thump…_

She went wide eyed and she back away.

"What is it?" William asked.

"There's a… a… a heartbeat," she replied dumbstruck.

"Huh?" Griffin said, "Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure I know what a heart sounds like."

Zack went over to it and placed his ear on it. He jerked his head back.

"She's right," he said.

"Are you saying this thing is _alive_!" Turner asked, alarmed by the fact the floating metal construct had a heartbeat.

"I'm sure the thing itself doesn't have a heart, Turner," Zack explained, aggravated by Turner's small minded question. "But there is definitely _something_ in it that does."

"So, what's in it?" Turner asked the room.

The P.A. System decided to update the countdown at that moment.

_Alert! Alert! Auto destruct initiated. Time to detonation: five minutes._

"That's not important right now," William intervened, "just grab that thing and let's go!"

Alice, Turner, and Rex got at the end of it facing away from the door and pushing. It moved surprisingly easy for its size. They pushed it through the door and out into the hall, of which it took up most of. Suddenly, plasma splashed against the sleek sliver surface of the pod, causing it to shimmer golden where the plasma hit. Alice peeked around the edge and saw two Elites standing menacingly in their path. The stopped and used the pod for cover. The incoming plasma didn't seem to have much of an effect on the pod.

"Great, how do we get past them?" Turner said.

"I've got an idea," Alice stated. "Everyone needs to stay close to the pod. On the count of three, we run this thing head on at those Elites."

"Are you nuts? They pick us off as soon as we past them!" Zack yelled.

_Warning! Warning! _The P.A. called again. _Station a_uto _destruct in two minutes._

"Aw, hell," William stated, "we've got no choice. On three. One… two… three!"

They pushed the pod with all their combined strength and they ran with it as it zoomed by the surprised Elites, knocking them off their feet. They ran none stop as fast as they could straight down the corridor.

"Look!"Griffin said. Alice looked over the top of the pod and saw a sign hanging above the upcoming bulkhead. It read: Escape pods.

Alice felt relieved when she saw it. _ Almost out,_ she thought.

They paused in front of the few remaining escape shuttles and Griffin ran in.

"Give me a minute to bring it online," he called out from within the pod.

"Yeah! We're almost out of…" Turner never had a chance to finish his sentence. He felt a hot searing pain in his chest. He looked down and saw a huge black burn carved into his chest. He fell to his knees and then hit the floor hard.

"No!" Alice cried out and the whole team opened up on the same pair of Elites from before, except they had a Jackal and dozens Grunts with them this time. Most of the Grunts fell fairly quickly, but the Elites and Jackal were tougher since they had shields. Rex, William and Alice kept up the pressure, while Zack broke off to help Turner.

"Turner, Turner can you hear me?" Zack said to the fallen marine. Turner didn't respond. His eyes held no life in them.

"He's gone!" Zack yelled over the gunfire, though no one most likely heard him.

One of the Elite's shields failed under the combined fire of the marines, and it was happily pelted with metal slugs in its breastplate and head. It fell back to the deck, dead.

"Everyone in, NOW!" William ordered. They all got in before the pod and Rex and Zack started to pull it in. The remaining Elite got a lucky shot off that grazed Rex's shoulder, immediately burning through his shoulder pad and bringing the tough as nails Helljumper to his knees.

"Man down!" Zack yelled into the pod. William dragged him in and Zack pulled the pod in the rest of the way on his own. It filled the majority of the shuttle, save a few seats near the cockpit.

"Hold up," Alice stated, "Where's Turner?"

"He's dead," Zack replied and yelled to Griffin. "Punch it!"

Griffin sealed the escape pod and kicked her engines into gear. The pod shook immensely and everyone within it were jarred and thrown around. The pod exploded out from within the tunnel and into open space. It zoomed out past the corvette, luckily without being noticed. Less than a minute after their escape, the core of Deep Space Station _Twilight _went nuclear and ripped itself apart in a massive explosion. Several of the larger debris found their way to the corvette's starboard side. Due to the debris' size, the corvette's plasma cannons had no real stopping effect and the wreckage collided with the ship's shields. Not able to compensate, the shields collapsed and the corvette was torn in two. The shockwave hit the escape pod and shook it harshly for next to a minute.

Zack sat next to Rex, treating his shoulder wound.

"How is he?" William asked the medic.

"The wound's been cauterized, so there's not much blood loss. Two or three weeks and he'll be right as rain."

"Good," William said and turned to Alice, sitting in front of Rex and Zack. "How are you holding up?"

Alice hesitated a moment and answered. "I'm fine, sir."

"Are you sure? I mean having to watch Turner get hit-"

"I've seen people die before, sir," she interrupted the Lieutenant, cold and detached. "I'm used to it."

William backed off after that. He knew better than to keep pressing her on the subject. He leaned into the cockpit and spoke to Griffin.

"Send a message to the _Summer's Ending_ for a pickup. Let them know we have the package."

"Yes, sir," Griffin replied and started up the pod's communication array.

Alice leaned forward. "How's your arm, Rex?"

He turned his head, looked at the wound, and responded. "I've been better."

Zack gave a shocked expression. "Wow, Cross, I didn't think anyone could get a word out of him."

Rex gave Zack a death stare through his visor, and Zack instantly backed down and continued treating the wound.

"Hey Cross," Rex said, turning back to Alice. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what do you need?" Alice asked.

"Could you take my helmet off? I'd do it myself, but Dr. Asshole over hear doesn't want me to move too much."

"Hey," Zack jumped in, "Do you want your arm to get infected?"

Alice chuckled. "Sure, Rex."

She got on her knees in front of him and ran her fingers under Rex's helmet. She lifted it off slowly and placed it on the seat next to him. Finally, the identity of the faceless ODST was revealed. Rex had a shaven head with black fuzz beginning to pop up. His eyes were a dark, near black shade of brown. A scar ran down his face from his eye to his cheek.

Alice couldn't hold back a smirk, finding Rex rather hansome. "Nice to finally see you, Rex."

"Nice to be seen," He replied.

Then, everyone heard a low beeping from within the back of the pod. Everyone turned their head. Only the mysterious pod sat hovering above the hardened floor. The low beeping steadily increased in sound until it became an annoying buzz.

William stepped forward. "What the-"

Suddenly, a bright flash of light enveloped the escape pod and the space beyond. The light spread to the damaged _Summer's Ending _and everything else that floated for thousands of kilometers within the system.

**FINALLY! It is finished! Sorry for such a long wait, guys. I hope it was worth the wait. I can't say when the next one is coming, but it is coming. Until next time, Archangel out!**


End file.
